Tag Archives: Usha Fire Safety

MY INDIA -SAFE INDIA. NATIONAL SAFETY DAY.

Education, Life Saving Education, Live Life, Safety, Safety as a Responsibility, , , , , , , , ,

Dear Readers, my last blog was posted in the month of November 2023. We are in 2024 and I have not published my blog since then. It has been a breakdown of sorts for which I would not like to give excuses. My readers have certain expectations and fulfilling them is what I should be focussing on. I apologise for the same and will be more regular hereinafter.

In this blog Maggie and Jaggy will continue their conversation on creating awareness on safety. They will be discussing on the National Safety Day theme for 2024 which is Focus on Safety Leadership for Environment, Social and Governance Excellence. It is a long theme and let us all trust Maggie and Jaggy will help us understand the same.

Maggie: “Hello Jaggy, Long time no see. All well?”

Jaggy: “Yes Maggie. Everything is just fine. Was caught up in a lot of work and other issues. Sorry for not meeting you often.”

Maggie: “It is OK Jaggy. It is just great to see you back. Let us get started!”

Jaggy: “Sure Maggie! Shoot.”

Maggie: “The theme for the National Safety Day seems to be too long. I am not able to say it fully.”

Jaggy: “To be honest yes, it is. But it talks about an important factor which is Safety Leadership. The theme itself says Focus on Safety Leadership for Environment, Social, Governance,(ESG) Excellence.”

Maggie: “Whatever it is it went way above my head like a bouncer.”

Jaggy: “It initially seems so but to understand it is not so complicated. Everyday there are new words and phrases and ESG and Safety Leadership are more often heard today by safety professionals.”

Maggie: “I understand but can you explain the theme better?”

Jaggy: “The theme says that the focus should be more on Safety leadership to create Excellence in the Environment, Social, Governance, (ESG). Just as we need leaders to make things better in organizations, workplaces, sports and even homes we need leaders to drive safety.”

Maggie: “I understand but can you elaborate on the good qualities of a leader first and then move to Safety Leadership.”

Jaggy: “To simply put it a leader is one Who Knows the Way, Shows the Way, and Goes the Way.”

Maggie: “A nice one Jaggy but how does this apply to Safety.”

Jaggy: “A Safety leader first and foremost should have knowledge on the safety process of his organization, show how safety is adopted and of course follow it himself at all times. A safety leader will always have 3 C’s of leadership.”

Maggie: “What are 3 C’s of leadership?”

Jaggy: “Credibility, Conviction and Clarity. These help safety leaders to establish the safety process, improve it and implement it. Without Credibility, Conviction and Clarity it is not possible.”

Maggie: “How can they do this?”

Jaggy: “By demonstrating Visible Commitment. It means that whatever the safety leaders do it should be visible to everyone just like the quote of Mahatma Gandhi.”

Maggie: “Be the Change you wish to see in others is it not what he said?”

Jaggy: “Exactly Maggie. He or she will do this by 1. Telling the truth. 2. Work Hard. 3. Never go back on their word and 4. Listen to hear vs Listen to speak.”

Maggie: “Superb Jaggy but can you tell me the process of Safety Leadership.”

Jaggy: “The first is all about Policies, Procedures, System, Forms which is more a stage of Compliance. These are tasks which are transactional. They are needed to establish the rules. The stage is about Raising Awareness. The next stage is the Personal Approach where leaders discover and share other ways of operating. Telling people why we are here today. This stage is more of Relationship building. The next stage is Inspire others to behave safely which is the stage of Transformation. Here the leadership is an ongoing journey.”

Maggie: “WOW Jaggy! The job of a safety leader is really difficult. To get everyone on the same page is really difficult. But how does this apply to ESG.”

Jaggy: “ESG. Let us deal with them one by one. Environment does not only mean the general definition, but it also implies the place where we work or stay. Safety leadership ensures the environment is accident free which is ensuring no unsafe conditions. Social means the society or community. They can mean anything and everything. When safety is an integral part of workplaces, homes become safer, thereby creating an impact on the society to be safe. Safety becomes social and community oriented which leads to safety culture across the nation. Governance is more about creating increased visibility to safety and ensuring it is followed by all and not just a few. Being transparent is the key here. Ethics and values in are a part of governance.”

Maggie: “Thank you, Jaggy. I may not fully understand what you say but I can do relate with it. One last question. How do leaders make this happen?”

Jaggy: “Simple by teaching. Leaders are teachers and safety leaders are safety teachers. Learning and teaching never stop.”

Maggie: “Thank you so much. Meet you soon.”

Jaggy: “Bye for now.”

I trust the readers would have understood the conversation. Never mind if you don’t. All my readers are safety leaders. Let us all lead everyone to be safe at all times. Jaggy and Maggie will continue to help us do it at all times.   

Live Life – Save Life.

Seshadri Varadarajan.

PS. If you want to have Safety Leadership sessions for your team, please email your request to me at seshadri.v@ushafire.in or to S. Janaki janaki.s@ushafire.in.

Complete Fire Fighter – I

Fire & Life Safety Education, Innovation, , , ,

Trust all my readers are staying safe.  We have discussed a lot on Fire safety in the past year. A lot of aspects were covered and I trust the information has been helpful to understand the dynamics of Fire and its character. We all know that fire fighting is dangerous and not to be done by untrained people. In this blog let us discuss the dangers faced by the Fire service personnel while battling the fire and how to ensure they return back safely to their families.

Fireman ready for Battle

There are 5 common hazardous situations most fire fighters find themselves during a fire ground operation.

  1. Elevated Temperature
  2. Smoke
  3. Oxygen Deficiency
  4. Toxic Atmosphere
  5. Structural Collapse

All the above situations present different challenges and are life threatening conditions. Though the fireman in advanced countries are highly trained it is not so in developing countries. To face these situations, rescue people and still coming out alive is a huge task. Hence a fire fighter needs to be properly equipped before he can even fight the fire.

Let us start with the dress of the fire fighter. This is called the fireman suit and it consists of the following.

  1. Helmet with Neck Protector
  2. Protective Flash Hood
  3. Jacket
  4. Gloves
  5. Trousers
  6. Boot

Helmet: The helmet protects the head, neck and face. It consists of a cap shell, cap hoop, the buffer layer and chin strap. It has an anti-scratch outer coating and anti-fog visor. The shell is made of TPE (Thermo Plastic Elastomer) material for resisting high temperature. The visor is polycarbonate. The neck protector has to be made of genuine leather. The interior of the helmet should have ventilating channels for sweat absorption and a shock absorber made of Poly Ethane foam. The chinstrap should be made of flame retardant cotton.

Protective Flash Hood: The protective hood provides thermal insulation to the sensitive parts of the head. It should have an elasticated face opening with comfortable seams. The hood should be flame and abrasion resistant. The flash hood should be double layered and made of 50% Meta-aramid and 50% viscose fabric and manufactured as per the latest fire safety standards.

Fireman jacket and trouser: These are the largest and most important parts of dressing up a fireman. Both the jacket and the trouser should consist of 4 layers.

1.Outer Layer
2.Moisture Barrier Layer
3.Heat Barrier Layer
4.Inner Lining

The outer layer is the most important layer which is exposed to heat and flame. It should be made of molecular engineered fire resistant fabric. The outer layer is made of 60% Para-aramid and 40% Meta-aramid. The outer layer should be 245 GSM fabric.

The moisture barrier layer protects the firefighter against water, chemicals, blood borne pathogens and microorganisms. It should be made of 80% Meta-aramid 20% Para-aramid coated with PTFE (Teflon). The moisture layer must be made of 110 GSM fabric.

 The heat barrier layer provides protection from heat. The material should be non-woven spun laced fire resistant material. It should comprise of 80% Meta-aramid and 20% Para-aramid fabric. The heat barrier layer fabric should be 70 GSM.

It is common knowledge that a firefighter would sweat a lot and hence absorption of sweat is important too.  The inner layer should made up of 50% Meta-aramid and 50% Para-aramid fire resistant viscose material. The inner layer fabric should be 150 GSM.

A wrist guard is sewn into the jacket, which protects the exposed skin between the edge of the sleeve and the glove. The collar is designed to protect the throat and the back of the neck. The special elbow guards protect the fireman’s elbow while crawling.

The special reinforced knee guards protect the knees while fighting fire. The trouser also consists of cargo pockets, suspenders, and stretch waistbands.

Gloves: Fireman gloves provide protection to the hands from heat and is also water repellent. It should be made of leather and lined with Cotton and a split leather cuff, stitched with fire resistant threads. The glove is Gunn cut designed with winged thumb, gauntlet type.

Boot: The fireman boot comes in black and yellow colour. It has vulcanized rubber uppers and soles and is lined with Woven Cotton material. It has Epoxy toe caps and has lacquer coating for weather protection.

 It is thermal resistant, waterproof, puncture resistant, chemical resistant, anti-crush and electrically insulated. The soles are slip resistant, highly durable and have minimum heel impact. The steel midsole provides protection from pins and sharp objects.

Every Fireman suit made should pass the following tests as per the world standards.

  1. Flame Spread
  2. Heat Transfer (Flame)
  3. Heat Transfer (Radiant Heat)                                              
  4. Residual Strength of Material (All Layers)
  5. Heat Resistance (All layers)
  6. Tensile Strength (Outer layer)
  7. Tear Strength (Outer layer)
  8. Penetration by Liquid Chemicals
  9. Resistance to Water Penetration
  10. Water Vapour Resistance

By donning the fireman suit a firefighter is ready for fire ground operation but to fight the oxygen deficiency and smoke he needs a Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA). We shall discuss about it in the next blog.

Till then stay safe and be safe.

Seshadri Varadarajan – 9840814353
For more information on Fire Man Suit, visit www.ushafire.com and www.resguardo.com